Devon Dick

Senator Barack Obama, President-elect of the United States (US), during the campaign and again in his victory speech reminded the listeners that when he started his campaign some 21 months ago he did not have any money or endorsements. That he defeated Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner and former First Lady, who had name recognition, money, and endorsements behind her, was monumental. And now to defeat John McCain, war hero extraordinaire and seasoned Senator, was truly remarkable. What was the main reason for the victory? It is not primarily because he is bright, knowledgeable, charismatic, thoughtful, calm and eloquent. It is much more than that. It is because he used a bottom-up strategy during his campaign and which informs his economic policies that gained traction with 66 million voters, a remarkable seven million more than McCain.

Obama raised more money than any other candidate in history and had more money than time to spend it. He has over four million donors in his database and the average contribution was US$100. In September alone he raised US$150M. His campaign was funded by small contributions, a bottom-up strategy. It must be acknowledged that Obama stumbled on this strategy to fund his campaign.

Lesson to be learnt

He originally said he would take public funding. However, during the primaries, when he saw the response of the ordinary people he broke his promise and rejected public funding. This is going to create a new paradigm in US presidential elections. Persons will now go for numerous small contributions rather than public financing or big donors.

There is a lesson for Jamaican politicians concerning public financing of political parties. Both the JLP and PNP have agreed to public financing of political parties. Political parties should raise money to fund their operations and finance their campaigns. They should swim or sink based on their ability to garner support from their followers and citizens. They should not get any further assistance from the nation's coffers to fund their operations.

The bottom-up strategy was also evident in the organisational skills honed by Obama as a community organiser in Chicago. It is said that Obama's ground operations to get out the votes was first-class. It depended on volunteers and low-paid staff. It was each one reaching one. A winning bottom-up strategy. And Obama was able to finance all these local offices and his extensive media campaign from money received through the implementation and clever execution of this strategy.

Trickle-down theory

Economic issues dominated the US presidential campaign and Obama used the opportunity to discredit the trickle-down economic theory. He claimed that McCain's plan of giving big corporations and high earners tax breaks with the hope that it will trickle down to ordinary citizens has not worked and will never work. Instead, he offered the 95 per cent middle class a tax break and businesses earning below US$250,000 a year, a capital gains tax break. This will be funded by higher taxes on those 5 per cent of Americans earning over US$250,000. This could stimulate the economy and help it out of recession.

Obama's bottom-up strategy was demonstrated in him taking his major speeches to the people. His world tour included a speech outdoors in Berlin, Germany. His Democratic acceptance speech was not in the Convention Hall but was outdoors. And his victory speech was not in a hotel but at a park where thousands of ordinary people could be. The winning bottom-up strategy is by the people, of the people and for the people. It is restoring democracy and empowerment to the people and it is always a winning strategy.

Rev Devon Dick is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation Building'